Unraveling (Second Chances) - By Micalea Smeltzer Page 0,67

the minute.

I prayed for a divine intervention.

I sunk down in the booth, and wished I could sink completely under the table and hide there until dinner was over. I was officially mortified. I could feel the heat flaming my cheeks and was sure that my temperature had probably been raised a few degrees. I loved Rollo, but sometimes he just went too far.

Karlie, sweetie that she was, changed the subject back to my cast.

I leaned across the table so that she could sign it.

When she finished, she handed the Sharpie to Jared.

Jared skimmed his fingers over mine in a barely-there touch. I shivered at the small contact, the hairs on my back sticking straight up.

He uncapped the pen, and stuck the end in his mouth, thinking. The pink of his tongue swirled around the tip before he finally pressed the marker to my cast.

He totally did that on purpose and I was definitely affected by it.

That fact, scared the bejesus out of me, but excited me at the same time. It meant that something, long dormant inside me, was waking up.

Jared finished, and I pulled my arm back. I didn’t dare peek at what he’d written; for fear that I might spontaneously combust on the spot.

Our dinner came and mine was actually pretty good.

Thankfully, Rollo didn’t make any more embarrassing remarks.

We dropped Rollo back off at the dorm, he gave me a look that told me he’d expect to know every juicy detail of my week with Jared.

It was getting kind of late when we got back to Jared’s house. Karlie went upstairs to take a shower and then said she was going to bed.

Jared collapsed onto the couch and I took the chair.

“There’s plenty of room for you on the couch,” Jared motioned to the empty space at his feet.

I took the spot he had indicated and immediately my heart jumped in my chest at the close proximity.

“You look like you’re deep in thought,” he said, after several minutes of silence.

I guess I was. I had been since he’d told me about his past.

How could someone go through something like that, and be so completely normal? I had let my rape eat away at me, and although my rape certainly wasn’t something to be taken lightly, I felt like Jared had, had it even worse.

I shrugged when he continued to wait for me to say something.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Katy. I can see the wheels turning in your head,” he crossed his arms over his chest.

I sighed and tucked my hair behind my ears. “I just don’t understand how you’re so… normal.”

Jared chuckled. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No,” I picked at a piece of lint on my jeans. “But usually people that go through something like what you did… they usually have a lot of baggage.”

Jared chuckled. “I’ve shipped my baggage away, Katy. There’s no use in holding onto it. I know I have every right to be an angry, bitter person, but I don’t want to be that way. I want to go on with my life. I want to smile, and laugh, and love,” he looked at me significantly. “I can’t do that if I hold onto my past. Sometimes, you have to sever the strings of your past, Katy. You have to set yourself free.”

24

WAKING UP IN JARED’S BED WAS NOT SOMETHING I’D GROW USED TO... even if I was already sad at the thought of going back to my condo.

“Hey, beautiful,” Jared grinned, before yawning. He stretched his arms above his head, flexing his impressive muscles. He rolled over towards me and rested his hand on top of the blanket, but over my hip. Even through the blanket, it felt like I was being seared by his touch. “You didn’t have a nightmare,” he remarked.

I jumped a little.

He was right.

I had suffered from the same nightmare every night since my rape, except for last night.

Even on nights Rollo stayed over, I still had them.

But Jared chased them away.

“You’re right,” I whispered.

He smiled and I itched to reach out and rub the heavy stubble on his cheeks and chin. “I’m glad you didn’t have one, Katy. I hated seeing you so scared.”

“You kept it away,” I said before I could stop myself.

“If there’s anything I can do for you, Katy, keeping that nightmare away has to be the best. I hate that you’ve been reliving that every night. Our dreams are meant to be an escape.” He reached out and picked up one of my